Jenny Zhao (zhz++at++dandan.engr.sgi.com)
Tue, 2 Feb 1999 20:22:08 -0800
> Shall we expect some sort API compatilibility or similarity
> between performer and fahreheit ?
This is a pretty general question. In general, yes, there will be some
similarity between Performer and the Vis Sim Extensions to FSG (aka VSE).
When designing VSE, we use the following guidelines:
1. Take full advantage of the features offered by FSG, such as extensibility
and multibuffer flexibility.
2. When the above criteria is met, make it as close to Performer as possible.
FSG is going to include all the scene graph functionality of Performer. However,do not expect a one to one mapping of the APIs. The porting effort will depend
on how much scene graph manipulations are in your application.
Some examples:
o If your application is "perfly your_database", then the effort here is
installing FSG and VSE on your system and run.
o If your application is based on our third party product, then they will
probably help you port.
o If you load objects using standard loaders and want to change their position
using a DCS node, you'd have to use the FSG equivalent of a DCS node, and use
the FSG API(s) to change its matrix.
o If you use more advanced features such as per node callbacks, you will have
to use the FSG callback mechanism.
The vis sim extensions are going to handle the multiprocessing,
multichannel/pipe and other vis sim features. Some are very similar to
Performer. Some, such as pfInit or pfConfig, will be replaced by FSG-style
structures.
FSG is our opportunity to fix some of the architecture design decisions
Performer made 6 or 8 years ago that are limiting us to serve the simulation
world today. We are excited about this transition. I hope that our results in
the form of FSG and VSE will convince you so too. The Performer team and a
handful of our beta customers will figure out the porting path for you first.
If your application is a derivation from perfly, it will be very helpful if you
can make your changes as modular as possible. In other words, instead of
embedding code inside the perfly functions, write functions and call them from
within the perfly functions.
> I wonder if our performer code will be easily converted to Fahrenheit
> Scene Graph.
Trust me, you are NOT alone:) We are figuring that out too.
Sorry. I can not supply more detailed information. The Fahrenheit project is
still company-confidential information. You may want to subscribe to
fahrenheit++at++sgi.com to get more information on feature sets and release dates.
Or you may send email to our product manager Chris Insinger (insinger++at++sgi.com)
for any marketing concerns.
Thanks!
Jenny Zhao zhz++at++engr.sgi.com 650 933-5091
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Tue Feb 02 1999 - 20:22:10 PST